Gary left Liz outside on watch and then circled around to the back of the building and found a back door. He made his way to the basement and opened the door across the hall from the lab. He found an old piece of pipe on the floor and scratched a message on the back of the door. Satisfied, he came back and found Liz waiting.
Nancy watched in disbelief as the writing appeared on the back of the door. She knew Gary had been captured but hadn't dared look in the lab to see what they had done with him. Now she knew. He had been sent back in time. His message was to go back to Ruth's and look in the desk for another message. She got out of the building as fast as she could and was on her way to her mother's wondering what would happen next.
Liz and Gary took the bus back to Ruth's house and worked on their plan on the way. After leaving the note in Ruth's desk, they headed back to Emerald Isle.
"Do you think this will work?" Liz wondered out loud.
"It's our only chance." Gary wanted to sound reassuring, but was afraid for them both.
After what seemed like an eternity they were on their way in a small boat to circle the island. Gary was the first to spot a small shack with what looked like a huge generator next to it. They glanced at each other realizing this was what they were looking for. They beached the boat in a deserted stretch of island out of sight of the shed and waited until nightfall. When they were sure no one was around they entered the shed. This was it. They carried all the equipment back to the boat and then headed for the mainland.
By the next evening they had set up all the equipment in the room across the hall from the lab. Gary had made sure everything was hooked up the way they found it on the island and Liz poured through the programs on the laptop until she found what she was looking for.
"This is it!" she exclaimed. For the first time during this whole process, she now felt she was in control. She punched the date into the computer and then hit the "send" button.
The assistant DA was starting to get agitated. Nancy knew that if something didn't happen soon, he wasn't going to wait much longer. Just then they saw a flash of light and standing in front of them were Gary and Liz.
"Wh...uh......what....how.......?" he stammered.
Liz grabbed his hand and headed for the door. "You'll have plenty of time to ask questions later." She forced him out of his stupor and headed for the lab. They opened the door to see cables and cords scattered all over the room, but not one piece of computer equipment.
"We're too late," she cried.
But Gary was smiling. "There's no such thing," he said as he headed for the door.
Gary ran back to the computer with Liz and Nancy hot on his heels. The assistant DA followed, still in a stupor. Liz wanted to explain but felt that would all come later. Gary stared at the computer screen for a minute or two and then started to punch in a date.
"That's it!" exclaimed Liz.
